


Overreacting

by PhenomenalBrat



Category: Supergirl (TV 2015)
Genre: Alex Danvers mentioned - Freeform, Confusion, Drama, Emotional boundaries, F/F, F/M, Is this stalking?, Kelly & Nia friendship, Lunch, Minor Alex Danvers/Kelly Olsen, Minor Kara Danvers/Lena Luthor, Nice guy who can't read non-verbal or verbal cues, Office, Querl Dox mentioned, Relationship Advice, Work Place, being followed, catco, emotional stress, non verbsl signals, over stepping, questioning yourself
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-01-17
Updated: 2021-01-17
Packaged: 2021-03-15 02:54:49
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,989
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/28806162
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/PhenomenalBrat/pseuds/PhenomenalBrat
Summary: Nia seeks some advice from Kelly when dealing with a nice guy from work who simply is not understanding the meaning of boundaries. The question is, " is she just over reacting or is she ignoring her instincts a little too much?
Relationships: Querl Dox/Nia Nal
Comments: 2
Kudos: 11





	Overreacting

Nia fidgeted at her desk looking around to make sure Darryl wasn't coming. He just could seem to pick up on her nonverbal hints that she did not want to hang out or go out with him. She was tired after the past 5 months of feeling like a rude bitch for not enjoying the attention. 

It wasn't even that he was rude or volatile or felt dangerous. He was a perfectly nice guy. That's what everyone said. She wasn't single though, and furthermore, she wasn't interested;Granted she had gone out with him once or twice at the urging of some coworkers. When she and Brainy had been broken up.

Darryl wasn't unattractive. He was by all appearances, a handsome and decent guy. They just didn't really click. It wasn't a slight against him, at least not intentionally. She didn't think she was trying to hurt him.

Darryl hadn't seemed to see or notice how she pulled away or deflected from his attention. He was corjual and polite and in fact even Pam from human resources had commented on how pleasant he was, which said a lot since she basically hated everyone.

Ever since the Christmas party 5 months ago, when William had introduced him to Nia and they had had a pleasant conversation, he had seemed to make it a practice to leave gifts, coffee or candy on her desk. After William had finally left 4 months ago this had become a regular occurrence. 

He popped up unexpectedly behind her so often in the copier room, that she had begun to think he was following her, though she had simply handwoven the issue away. She had to. There were quite a few things to hand wave away but she tried not to reflect too much on it.

He had been sitting at her desk a few times when she came back from lunch. He had said he was just checking up to make sure she was okay. It was all rather...nice...sort of. 

It was starting to make her wonder why he was so fascinated or interested though. She had dropped a subtle hint that she wasn't interested. She had put a picture of Brainy on her desk after that first incident too. 

_"Hey I was just checking up on you. Where have you been?" Darryl had asked. No part of Nia had felt like she owed an explanation for her whereabouts to him._

_"I was just at lunch with a friend." She had supplied a polite but vague answer and told herself he was just being nice and concerned._

_"Oh. Well, let me know next time and I could join you."_

_If Nia hadn't known better she would of said he had invited himself to lunch with her. "D' you don't have to wait at my desk when I'm at lunch. I promise I'm fine. " She had smiled in a way she hoped was soft enough as she prayed that he took this hint for what it was._

That had been over 3 months ago. She felt like her space was being invaded. He wasn't assaulting her or trying to touch her but the increasing behavior was making her agitated. She wasn't even sure why. Not only did she have super powers, but Darryl was not violent anyways. She'd never even seen him raise his voice.

He had stopped by her desk later with a bag of her favorite Gummi bears and apologized for sitting at her desk. It was very polite and nice. _"I get it if you're annoyed with me. Am I annoying you? I hate being a bad guy. You know-"_

_"Of course not. Why would you think that? " Nia had found herself lying through her teeth, like speaking the truth would somehow have ruined his life, and it would have been all her fault._

In retrospect she should have just admitted that it was annoying and she felt like he was clinging to her. Truth be told she felt manipulated by him; That was not to say he was deliberately manipulative by any means though. He was just very emotionally...dependent. That's what she told herself. 

Beep! 

The little alarm on her phone went off letting her know it was a quarter 'til one. Kelly was supposed to pick her up for lunch in 15 minutes. She looked around to make sure now was a good time before she grabbed her purse. She leaned down picking it up. As she stood up, Darryl suddenly rounded the corner walking towards her. She sighed feeling trapped but not wanting to be rude. He was just being nice. 

**. . . .**

"Nia." Darryl greeted her. His glasses were pushed up on his head and he walked quickly towards her. His orange button up shirt was slightly undo and he seemed a little frazzled. 

Truth be told, she was confused as to what he was doing on this side of the building at this time of day. She often wondered that when she ran into him. His office was technically all the way on the other side of the building. He essentially went out of his way to talk to her. It was one of those things that he had hand waved away though. He had this air of polite friendliness. She felt increasingly stupid at how irritated and agitated it made her since his behavior wasn't hostile at all.

"Hey!" She smiled politely as he stopped in front of her. He was close. He had a tendency to get in her bubble of space quite frequently. She often got the feeling he was actively expecting something from her when they ran into each other. Wordlessly she moved back a little to give herself more space and then immediately threw herself into this script that she'd prepared in her head of conversation. "What are you up to?" She asked him before he could ask her.

"Oh. I am heading over to the copier machine and I was on this side of the building. I thought I would say hi."

She nodded attentively as he spoke. "You still working on that article about the homeless people being forced out of the shelters or-???"

"Yeah, it's-" he paused and looked her over. It wasn't salacious per say but she hated when he did that, looked at her like he wanted to touch her. It was nonverbal but noticeable when they were this close. "Where are you heading out to?"

Nia wracked her brain in search of a suitable excuse. She didn't want to lie, but she didn't want to tell the truth either. "Oh. Uhm- nowhere really. I'm just headed out for a few. I promised a friend I would help her with something. " That wasn't a lie technically. She kept her tone polite and cordial but hoped he would take the hint that he wasn't invited. He was perfectly nice but it was just getting annoying. It occurred to her though that she was just sending confusing signals. 

"Oh. Well be safe. Text if you need any help. " He stepped closer, leaning towards her. He gave this vibe like he was expecting something from her.

The elevator dinging drew Nia's attention and she looked over to see Kara getting off the elevator with Lena right behind her. They were laughing quietly about something and she saw an out from her conversation with Darryl. "Oh hey, there's Kara. I'm going to go say hi." She had literally just been with Kara 4 hours ago as Supergirl and Dreamer stopped an oil spill in the early morning hours, but that wasn't something that she needed to relay out of politeness. 

She stepped away. "I'll see you...around."

He smiled in a soft boyish way that was probably charming. He wasn't a bad looking guy by any means. She simply wasn't interested. "Don't be a stranger." She smiled back at him, trying to find that right balance that wasn't something that could be misunderstood as flirtatious but didn't look fake, or forced. Then she turned and walked off towards Lena and Kara.

**. . . .**

"Sorry I was late coming down from.the office." Nia sat across from Kelly at the table as they munched on a plate of pita chips and red pepper hummus sauce while they waited for their actual lunch to arrive. Nia sipped out of the margaritas she had ordered with her meal.

"It's fine. We had time." Kelly reassured her before eyeing the large alcoholic beverage Nia was having, mid workday. "Uhm…" the semi disapproving noise from Kelly, did not go unnoticed. 

She had admittedly developed a small bad habit of having a drink at lunch or at home lately more so than usual. Usually when she was out with Brainy or with friends,, it wasn't even something she thought about or wanted much. Lately though it felt like the glue holding her back from pure anger or frustration. It calmed her nerves that she was beginning to feel more and more whenever she interacted with Darryl. "I'm just having a sip. It's 5 o'clock somewhere." She phrased it as a joke. 

"It's 1:30." Kelly's tone wasn't accusatory. She just sounded observational. 

"I needed a drink. '' Nia jokes.

Kelly looked me over. It wasn't in a way that made Nia uncomfortable like it did when Darryl did that kind of stuff. It was more in the concerned friend way. Kelly was clearly taking note of Nias decreasing weight. She had probably dropped 15-18 pounds in the past few months. It wasn't a lot per say, but Nia was already rather slender to start with. It was the oddest thing. Nia had chalked it up to stress from work. Truth be told, it had taken a plummet since the parking garage incident a few months ago in conjunction with some other things that made her feel...she couldn't find the right word to explain it. 

"Food first. Then alcohol, " Kelly instructed.

Nia moved her glass away from herself and breathed out a sigh.

"Is that guy from your job still bothering you? You look stressed."

Nia cringed at the shockingly blunt way that Kelly had said the question. She fidgeted slightly. "He's just being...nice. I think he-" she trailed off looking for a way to explain things to Kelly. She didn't want to demonize Darryl but truth be told, if she didn't tell someone then her head was gonna explode. "He just not- not taking the non verbal cues really well. "

Kelly nodded and looked like she was thinking for a moment. "Is his misreading your cues or actively ignoring them."

That was a loaded question. Nia couldn't say she honestly wanted to think about things in that way. If it was the latter then it gave very bothersome implications. "He- I think maybe I'm inadvertently sending him confusing signals."

Kelly's face looked skeptical at that statement. "Wasn't he sitting at your desk when we came back from lunch. I remember you told me about that. You said you politely told him not to do that. Right?"

Nia cringed internally. "Yes."

"But he did it anyways more times to check up on you?"

"I think he was worried-"

"Worried about what exactly?"

Nia didn't know how to answer that. She wasn't sure what he was worried about

She had been in no danger and didn't need to be checked up on. Darryl apparently was some kind of old school gentleman though. He behaved as though she needed protection or constant conversation quite often. It had gotten to the point where she felt watched and trapped by him. It wasn't malicious though. Darryl certainly wasn't violent or aggressive. "I think I just need to be more clear with him. He's a nice guy. He just- I'm not interested."

Kelly nodded. "He's making you uncomfortable. "

"I'm- I'm uncomfortable with some stuff that he does. I- I don't think he's deliberately trying to-"

Kelly sighed. She pinched the bridge of her nose. "Nia, you know you don't have to deflect like that. He's making you uncomfortable. "Kelly reiterated her statement in no uncertain terms. 

"I-" 

"Let me rephrase. Some stuff has happened. Do you maybe want to tell me more? I have to be honest, the little I know so far has given me pause."

Nia sighed. "I- I don't want to demonize him. I'm not trying to be unfair with what's happening. "

"You're not. You're just being honest. "

"Well...he constantly checks on me. It would be sweet if it didn't feel so invasive. I have a picture of Brainy on my desk but he's not getting it."

Uhm…" Kelly made another small noise but didn't comment further. 

"He's inva- he's in my personal space a lot. He sits at my desk. He- I feel like he follows me." 

Kelly sat up straighter. Her eyes widening. "Follows you how? Do you mean at work?"

"Yes. That can't be helped though. We work in the same place. It's him popping up at other places-"

"Other places?"

"I know this is stupid. I'm over reacting. It just-"

"What exactly has been happening?" Kelly's tone was serious and tinged with curiosity.

Nia racked her brain for a moment to find the most fair way to explain it. "Okay so-"

**. . . .**

**(12 weeks ago)**

_The traffic had been rather awful as she finally escaped off the freeway exit, down South boulevard and pulled into the parking lot for Safeway. The cake she had ordered for Yvette's birthday should be ready at this point. If everything went well, she would only be 20 minutes late at this rate though._

_She pulled into a parking spot near the back with the front of the parking lot being already jammed with cars. Not even 30 seconds later, an off white, creamish colored car pulled in next to hers. Its tinted dark windows looked familiar. She felt agitation rush through her body. It felt like her body was trying to go into 'fight or flight mode. It was the oddest thing._

_As she stepped out and closed her door, turning towards the store, a voice she recognized called her name._

_"Nia! Hey." Darryl called her name. She internally cringed. She hadn't expected to run into him and since she had literally ran into him just a week ago when he had coincidentally pulled up right next to her at the panda express just as she got there. That in itself had been just a few days after her coincidentally ended up at the gas station she was at. He had insisted he would get gas for both of them. And that had been a nice, polite gesture, she supposed. It was certainly well mannered and gentlemanly. She was started to feel like...she knew it was stupid but it felt like he was following her. Granted he wasn't being vicious or assaulting her or trying to harm her, but it was making her feel uncomfortable in a way she struggled to put into words._

_"Hey." Nia turned to greet him in a tone she hoped did not sound irritated or tired. He approached until he was in her space, standing a foot or so away._

_"I thought that was you, I saw. What are you up to?"_

_She didn't really want to answer. She didn't want to be rude or offend him or make him think that she thought he was a nuisance. "Nothing much. What are you up to? Running errands?"_

_"Yeah. You could say that."_

_"I know how that goes. Don't let me keep you. She gave herself an "out" and shifted her body back in the direction of the store. She started walking._

_I'll head in with you." He invited himself along with her. It irritated her but not enough for her to vocalize that thought clearly and directly, out loud._

_She wracked her brain to create some small talk conversation as they headed towards the door. If she filled the silence before he could then something told her that was best._

**. . . .**

**( Present)**

Nia watched a myriad of emotions play across Kelly's face as she finished explaining. 

"So… it's just sort of weird stuff. I don't know why it bothers me. He's not some pervert stalking me or jumping out of a bush to try to rape me. It's just-"

"Nia." Kelly interrupted. Nia paused in her rambling. "Can I be honest with you?"

"Yeah."

Kelly nodded. "Okay. I just have to ask, why are you telling me that He's such a nice guy? "

Nia was taken aback by the question. Why would Kelly even ask her that. " He is a normal, perfectly polite guy. He can be funny or surprising sometimes. He's never given me any reason to think he's a danger or a jerk, you know. He's...nice. He just...you know, not taking the hint." Nia looked down at her shoes and fidgeted a bit. She looked up as the waiter approached. He carried a plate with a lunch serving of salmon and salad for Kelly and a small plate of artesian salad for Nia. He left after nodding without much fanfare. 

"Nia." Kelly reached across the table taking the margarita and moving it to her side of the table as she spoke. " He's not a nice guy." She didn't phrase it as a question. She threw it out like a blunt statement. 

"He's-"

"He's disrespecting your space. His behavior, from how you describe it borders of possessive. In fact it might even be called obsessive. "

"No, I- he's not a violent or bad guy. He's just really emotionally dependent."

"On you? Why? " 

"I don't know."

"Nia, he's actively stalking you. It not something you just feel. It's what's happening. You know that.I know you understand that. Like, If I told you what you told me, you would give me the same advice I'm giving you."

"I-I just don't want to be unfair to his feelings. I feel like...like I went out with him a few times and maybe I wasn't clear or-"

"That's not true. You have a picture of your boyfriend on your desk. You told me yourself, that you've mentioned Brainy to him. Nia, he's violating your boundaries. I don't care how nice he or anyone else says he is." Kelly's tone had shifted to something very no nonsense and point blank. 

Nia sighed as she looked over at her Margarita. "He makes me uncomfortable. " That in itself felt like a heavy admission. I feel like- It's like he wants something from me emotionally, romantically and sexually that I can't give him. I just- I don't want to be cruel or unfair to his feelings. I feel agitated and like I'm swimming through constant annoyance. It's not even that I think he would hurt me-"

"He agitated you, followed you, invited himself places with you and you literally told me he sets off your flight instincts sometimes. Nia. Your body is trying to tell you something."

That was true. It certainly felt that way. She couldn't tell if it was her over reacting internally to things though. She had no reason to impune his character granted she didn't know a great deal about him in a weird way. It was like she knew bits and pieces and that was it. " I've been psyching myself up to be more clear with him and create a more firm boundary."

"Good. To be honest, if he's making you this agitated and stressed then he's not someone I want around you."

"He's not dangerous."

"Nia, this is the kind of thing that escalades into danger."

That wasn't really a summation that Nia wanted to accept. 

"I guess what I want to say to him is," she thought about it for a second.. She'd been trying to work out the best thing to say in her head for a while, "Darryl, you're a nice guy. And it's nothing against you at all but I feel uncomfortable with you checking up on me and inserting yourself into my space. I don't like being touched without consent either. I know you're not doing things maliciously but I feel like you're not really understanding what my boundaries are. I'm- Im not interested. I'm sorry. I'm not saying that to hurt you either. I just feel like maybe I let you get this idea about us in your mind and I want to be fair and honest with you. I don't see a future or relationship between us. I'm sure there is some amazing girl out there who does want those things with you. I'm just not that girl. I- I don't want you to think that I'm trying to slight you but I think space between us would be healthy. I don't want you to seek me out or pop up unannounced or anything. I don't need to be followed to my car or checked in on. I'm a grown woman. I need you to stop doing that kind of stuff. Please. I'm sure you're just trying to be a gentleman but it makes me uncomfortable. Please stop. I know some people at work are invested in this idea of us becoming a couple but that's not somethingI want. I'm sorry. " Nia nodded. 

"Hmm…" 

"I just want to tell him that in a way that is 100% clear and doesn't hurt him."

Kelly nodded as she took a bite of her salad. "What you just said is 100% clear and more than fair. If he's the nice guy you say he is, then he should respect what you said there." Kelly took a few more bites of her salad.

"I just- I don't want to sound like I'm accusing him of anything either."

"You aren't. You're just being honest. It's okay to be honest. You're allowed to choose yourself. "

Nia picked up the salad dressing and drizzled it over her food and she stared at it for a second before taking a bite. Part of her brain still felt like she was possibly just over reacting. Maybe the way she had explained things had made them sound worse than they were to Kelly. It didn't really feel like she was _allowed_ to choose herself here. More and more it honestly had felt like some of her coworkers thought Darryl was entitled to have her; like she was a prize he got for being a nice guy. It made her resent him a little. It felt like he indulged in people whispering about how cute of a couple they would make. Granted she felt like an ungrateful bitch for having that thought too, and it had been squashed quickly enough.

"I'm- Im going to tell him." She promised. 

"So then we, you and I are coming up with an action plan when you psych yourself up. I'll go with you too if you need." 

Nia consumed the next few bites of her salad while she thought about what Kelly had said. Something about the implication of Darryl being a danger had made her rethink a lot of interactions...harmless things that she had hand waved away as well. She felt like her brain was thinking about a lot right then. "Thanks Kelly."

"No problem. After we solve this, we can discuss your day drinking. It wasn't an accessory statement, just an honest one.

"Maybe if I pulled this off I'll feel less stressed and tired and I won't have to." 

Kelly gave her a pointed look. " Certainly want to remove factors that make you want to drink in excess." It was a loaded statement. 

She laughed morosely. She had no response or come-back for that. For the first time in months, she thought that she really wasn't just over reacting at least.

**. . . .**

**FIN**

Thanks for reading...or maybe, sorry for making you all read this. Leave Questions or comments, kudo and criticism. You know the drill, the usual.

**Author's Note:**

> Author's notes: Because of how human nature is, It's difficult to gauge whether you're overreacting to certain things or whether your instincts are trying to tell you something. Like you get into the habit of simply accepting certain things as things someone will do even if they annoy or agitate you. Sometimes it's easier for other people to look at something and help us reflect on how we actually feel. Women are often taught not to be offensive or rude. The line is so unclear that we can become non offensive to the point that we accept someone not catching or perhaps ignoring non verbal cues we give as well. Its difficult to function like that in any circumstances, even the best. In terms of interpersonal relationships, between men and women this inability to catch social cues that some men have can start to feel toxic. Maybe what we need to learn as women is that as long as we aren't malicious, voicing our discomfort or displeasure doesn't make us rude or selfish or a bitch as long as we do it in a way that is considerate and fair. So I guess what we need to ask ourselves is "are you overreacting or are you ignoring your instincts, when something simply isn't working.
> 
> -BJ


End file.
